Separatists block roads, railway
BARCELONA: A year after a banned referendum on secession from Spain, tens of thousands of Catalan militants piled pressure on the region’s separatist government Monday during an anniversary marked by road and railway line blockades.
According to municipal police, 180,000 protesters gathered in Barcelona late in the day behind a banner reading “October 1, no forgetting, no forgiving”, to push for independence at a demonstration called by the influential civic association ANC.
“We’re disappointed because people are pushing things as much as they can but they (politicians) aren’t responding,” said Francesc Serra, a 43-year-old gardener.
Around 500 people had already protested earlier on Monday, cutting main roads of the city and calling for the resignation of regional president Quim Torra, a staunch independence supporter whom they nonetheless accuse of failing to stand up to the Spanish state.
“We want to show them that they are where they are thanks to the people and that we have the power,” explained Ana Sarabia, 48. “If they don’t do anything, we will act,” she said at the demonstration.
Early in the day, several hundred members of a radical group called the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), many covering their faces with scarves, had occupied high-speed railway tracks in the northeastern city of Girona, briefly blocking service between Figueres and Barcelona.
Central streets in Barcelona and Lleida were blocked, as was the AP-7 motorway south of Barcelona, and the A2 that links the city with Madrid, Catalan TV images showed.
Activists swarmed into Catalonia’s regional government building in Girona and took down the Spanish flag that hangs out front, replacing it with a red, yellow and blue separatist flag. “A year ago we voted for independence... Let’s act,” the CDRs tweeted.
Last year’s secession bid, which saw Catalan leaders hold the referendum despite a court ban on Oct 1, 2017 and then declare short-lived unilateral independence on Oct 27, has polarised public opinion, cleaving deep divisions regarding the region’s future. Monday’s acts of disobedience highlighted divisions among separatists in the wealthy northeastern region, which is home to 7.5 million people and has its own language.
Separatist parties that hold an absolute majority in the regional parliament are split on how to pursue a break from Spain — either through direct confrontation or via a more moderate approach.
On Saturday, the situation in Barcelona was already tense, with 24 people injured and six detained as separatists clashed with Catalan police. They had taken part in a protest called to counter a rally by police paying tribute to colleagues who deployed to foil the Catalan independence referendum.
In this context of sharp divisions, Mr Torra on Monday praised the CDRs’ actions, saying they were “doing well in putting on the pressure”.